Saving money on Real Estate and Mortgage expenses is the single biggest money saving activity the average Australian consumer can undertake. In fact if you're willing to educate yourself in the ways of the mortgage world, you can save quite a bit of money by being a little different. Thanks to the GFC many Australian banks have tightened lending criteria, making a little more difficult to get a new home loan and tougher still to get a very cheap mortgage deal. Don't despair, it's still very much worth taking a second look at your mortgage deal, simply because it can save you an absolute fortune! Cutting 0.5% off a $400,000 mortgage will cut your mortgage repayment costs by around $160 a month!